Cassie Mitchell Winner of the 2012 Lohmann Medal of Honor

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Dr. Cassie Sue Mitchell was born in 1981 in Muskogee, Okla., to Randy and Clara Mitchell. She was raised with firm values and strong influences from her parents. Her father was a high school teacher and mother was a college professor at Connors State College. Cassie credits them with instilling in her the drive to succeed and determination to overcome obstacles.

Cassie grew up active in a number of youth sports and competition programs. She was an All-Around Champion multiple times in Gymnastics tournaments, attended the Arle Jean Campbell School of Dance, and excelled in both equestrian and track sporting events.

It was her natural ability in track and field that earned her many scholarships to compete in track during college. However, at the end of her High School career, Cassie was diagnosed with Devic’s neuromyelitis optica, which is an autoimmune disease attacking the spinal cord Devic’s causes painful muscle spasms and inflammation that damages the spinal cord and optic nerves. The result is paralysis, severe weakness, vision loss and blindness.

With the goal of being a track athlete in college no longer an option, Cassie turned to her next great love, and that was engineering. She was accepted to OSU on a full academic scholarship and decided to pursue chemical engineering.

At OSU Cassie continued to excel. She was named a Goldwater Scholar, inducted to the OSU Leadership Legacy Hall of Fame, recipient of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers National Scholar award, was a Wentz research scholar, was named to the USA Today First Academic All American Team, and was an active member of several clubs on campus including the Omega Phi Epsilon (an honor society for chemical engineering students).

Cassie graduated from OSU in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. She had completed two internships during her undergraduate education. The first being a research and development engineering intern with Syntroleum of Tulsa, and the other as a reservoir engineering intern with ExxonMobil out of Houston.

Following OSU, Cassie was granted a five year graduate fellowship at the Georgia Institute of Technology, to study Biomedical Engineering . She completed the MS degree and continued on with doctoral study. Her doctoral research was in the field of neuropathaologies. She completed her Ph.D in 2009 and stayed on staff at Georgia Tech as a Research Professor. She has received research grants and is currently investigating Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Cassie has been awarded many teaching honors, research grants, and was selected as the senior Research Engineer through the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech. She also volunteers as a mentor for the Shepard Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center in Atlanta, where she is a researcher, patient and athlete as well.

She currently competes for the Shepard Smash Quad Rugby Team and has been selected as an All-Star Team Finalists, as well as MVP at a multitude of tournaments. She was part of three National Championship Finals teams where they placed 3rd at the National Tournament in 2011.

In 2010 Cassie started participating in Paracycling. She has been part of the USA Cycling National Championship Women’s Handcycling Road Race, Criterium and Time Trials, as well as named to the 2011 and 2012 USA Paracycling National Team. Cassie is now training for the 2012 Olympic team and continues to push past the boundaries that challenge her life.

Cassie has overcome insurmountable odds. She truly defines the definition of a Champion. From her high accomplishments, advanced research, competitive athletic ability and her personal drive to excel in life, Cassie Mitchell is most deserving of the 2012 Lohmann Medal award. She is the youngest recipient of the award since it began 25 years ago.